The distinguished German musicologist, Hans-Joachim Schulze, studied musicology in Leipzig at the Hochschule für Musik from 1952 to 1954, and with Serauky, Eller, and Besseler at the Karl Marx University from 1954 to 1957. He completed his education at the University of Rostock (Ph.D., 1979, with the dissertation Studien zur Bach-Überlieferung im 18. jabrbundert; published. in Leipzig, 1984).

In 1957 Hans-Joachim Schulze became a research assistant at the Leipzig Bach Archive, where he later served as deputy director from 1974 to 1979. With Christoph Wolff, he was co-edited of the Bacb-Jahrbuch (from 1975). He was made head research fellow of the Nationale Forschungs- und Gedenkstatten Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig in 1979, and was appointed director of the Leipzig Bach Archive in 1986. He was a lecturer at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg (1987-1988), and has lectured as a visiting professor in universities in Europe and the USA devoted scholar of Bach, Schulze is a respected authority in his field.